Pro-hunting writer held in cell after race claims

Robin Page, a columnist for The Telegraph, has been arrested on suspicion of stirring up racial hatred after making a speech at a pro-hunting rally.

Mr Page, 61, was detained in a police cell after being interviewed about remarks made by him at a country fair at Frampton-upon-Severn, Glos, on Sept 6.

Yesterday, he vehemently denied having made any comment that could be construed as racist during the address, in which he encouraged his audience to attend the Liberty and Livelihood March in London later that month.

Mr Page also told his audience that Londoners had the right to run their own events, such as the Brixton carnival and gay pride marches, which celebrated black and gay culture. Why therefore, he asked, should country people not have the right to do what they liked in the countryside.

Mr Page said yesterday: "I urged people to go on the march and I urged that the rural minority be given the same legal protection as other minorities. All I said was that the rural minority should have the same rights as blacks, Muslims and gays.

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"What is wrong with that in a multicultural society? I said nothing that could possibly be interpreted as racist."

Mr Page's opinions would appear to be no more controversial than those expressed by the Prince of Wales earlier this year. In a letter, leaked in September, the Prince said he agreed with a farmer from Cumbria who claimed that the farming community enjoyed less protection from discrimination than black or gay people.

Mr Page, a well-known commentator on rural issues, had been invited to speak at the fair by its organisers, the Countryside Alliance and the British Association for Shooting and Conservation. He said his comments had received a warm reception, and no one, including police officers present, had expressed any concern.

Last week, he was telephoned by an officer from Gloucestershire police and asked to attend an interview on Monday at a police station near his farm in Cambridgeshire. The caller said his chief constable had received a number of complaints.

Mr Page duly attended the meeting with two officers, but when he refused to answer questions without his lawyer present he was arrested and taken to Cambridge police station, spending 40 minutes in a cell.

He was told that he would have to stay there overnight if he wished to wait for his lawyer to attend, and so eventually agreed to be interviewed without him.

After being asked if he was a racist, Mr Page replied that he certainly was not, explaining that it would be an odd label for a man who played in a local cricket team fielding a number of Asian players. He was later released on police bail and was ordered to report to Stroud police station in January.

Mr Page went on: "Obviously somebody has not understood the message. Whereas once you were innocent until proven guilty, Gloucestershire police now assume you are guilty until proven innocent. It seems to me that I am being stitched up by the anti-hunting lobby and the politically correct."

Gloucestershire police confirmed that they had arrested Mr Page on suspicion of violating Section 18 (1) of the Public Order Act, referring to stirring up racial hatred.